


ORIGINAL CHARACTER; DO NOT STEAL

by placentalmammal



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-14
Updated: 2015-07-14
Packaged: 2018-04-09 06:39:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4337804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/placentalmammal/pseuds/placentalmammal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A deliberately ridiculous OC walks into a bar. References to death, rape, and miscarriage in Magnolia Goodtree's ULTRA-TRAGIC BACKGROUND, though it should be noted that she's lying through her teeth about everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	ORIGINAL CHARACTER; DO NOT STEAL

The door to the Mojave Outpost baracks opened, and in stepped girl unlike any Cass had ever seen. Her first though was that Ghost's younger, uglier sister had stopped in for a visit. Her second thought was that the girl looked young, too young to be doing much but chasing boys and skipping rope. Her third was that the girl's bright green hair color couldn't possibly be natural.

She said her name name was Magnolia Goodtree. Cass didn't believe for a minute that her mama had named her little baby something half so ridiculous as "Magnolia Goodtree," but her own mama had named her little baby "Rose of Sharon," so she supposed she wasn't one to judge.

Magnolia took the seat next to Cass at the bar and began telling the story of how, three hours into her first Courier job, she was ambushed, shot in the head, and left for dead in a shallow grave just outside of Goodsprings.

Cass didn't believe her for an instant. If Magnolia was a courier, Cass was the goddamned Queen of the Molerats.

Cass had seen her type before. Compulsive liars, inexperienced daddy's girls, hot shots who'd never fired a gun. They passed through the Outpost before, looking for glory in the Mojave. Most ended up buzzard food inside of three days, but they were good for a few laughs before they went out and got themselves killed.

Cass slunk around the bar, took the stool next to Magnolia's. "You a Courier?"

The girl nodded. "Yeah," she said. "I used to be a tribal princess, but the Legion killed everyone in my village and now I'm a courier."

"Well, I'll be," Cass said gamely, ignoring the barkeep's glare. "A tribal princess."

Magnolia took a dainty sip of her soda water. "My daddy was the chief. My mother died when I was a baby, so he raised me all by hisself. I was a princess."

"I'm a tribal myself, on my mom's side. Whereabouts were your people from?"

Magnolia paused and thought. "North of here," she said, finally.

"Where up north? My caravan used to make a loop of those little towns. Wonderin' if you know some old friends of mine."

"There... There weren't any towns. Too remote."

"That's a shame," Cass said. "Always good to talk to another tribal, though."

She turned, as if to leave, but Magnolia stopped her. "I'm not really tribal," she blurted. "But I was raised by a tribe after raiders killed my real parents."

Cass nodded attentively. Encouraged, Magnolia continued. "They were caravaners. Like you. Raiders killed them and... and dogs et the bodies. But some tribals found me and took me in. There was a locket on me." She scrambled at a knotted gold chain around her neck, pulled a locket out of her shirt.

It was a cheap, dented thing, nickel wrapped in gold foil. Its match could have been found in any pre-war five-and-dime store, but Cass listened attentively as Magnolia explained its significance. "It was my ma's," she said. "My real ma. Not my tribal ma. My real ma was a beauty queen from Reno. She ran off with my daddy because her boss fell in love with her. They had a caravan together. Me an' a caravan. This is her locket. 'S got a picture of my real parents on the inside."

She stuffed the locket down the front of her shirt, but not before glancing surreptitiously around the bar, as though someone were about to steal the homely thing. Cass tried not to laugh.

"Is that right?" 

Magnolia nodded solemnly. "I'm named Magnolia, after her."

Cass rested her chin in her hands. "How did the tribals know what your ma called you?"

Magnolia frowned, as though she had never considered that before. "They didn't. I called myself Magnolia, after my ma. The tribals called me Moon Princess, because I was so beautiful, but I knew in my soul that my real name was Magnolia, like my ma."

Cass was only barely containing her laughter. "No shit," she said. "That's really something. How'd you become a courier?"

"Legion came 'round and killed all the tribals, like I said. But I escaped." Cass dug deep and put together an encouraging smile.

Magnolia continued, her confidence bolstered. "I ran away, all the way to Vegas. And I got a job singin' in one of them big casinos."

She adjusted her glasses and cleared her throat before she continued. "The boss at the casino fell in love with me, just like the boss at my ma's casino fell in love with her. He fell in love with me on account of my beautiful voice. But I refused him."

Cass waved the barkeeper over, ordered another beer. She opened it on her belt buckle and drank while Magnolia explained that she had been enslaved before she escaped the Legion. She'd been a slave, but her master, Vulpes Inculta, had been taken in by her beauty. He was a cruel man, but he had protected her from the other Legionaries, then set her free, because "Some birds are too beautiful to hold."

She paused when she relayed this last sentiment. Cass made a vague noise of affirmation, and Magnolia continued.

"Before I left, we made love. I was a virgin, and I got pregnant with his baby."

"The casino boss was real mad about this. He begged me to marry him, but when I refused, he raped me. I was nine months along, and I had a stroke and the baby died. I ran away, and I became a courier."

Cass was genuinely impressed. It had been a good long time since she'd had the pleasure of encountering someone so bugfuck crazy. Magnolia was crazier than a shithouse rat, and she was only getting started.

"So I took the courier job in Primm," she said excitedly, "And I was walking through Goodsprings when the casino boss jumped me! He asked me again to marry him, and when I said no, he shot me and stole my package. But really, he just loves me, even though I'm married to Vulpes."

Her chipper demeanor took a sudden turn for the morose. "I don't know where he is. He was supposed to quit the Legion to be with me, but his baby died and now we can't be a family."

That was the precise moment when Cass lost control of herself. She laughed. She laughed like a mule, loud snorts that shook her shoulders and left her gasping for breath. She was weeping from laughter, pounding the bar and rocking on her stool when Magnolia busted out in tears.

She ran out, but before she did, she cursed Cass in the name of the moon's true love. Magnolia wasn't just a star-crossed orphan tribal princess, she was a witch. And she mustered up all the indignation in her 5'3" frame and cursed Cass to an eternity of miss fortune.

Cass didn't think anything of it, not until a week later when she woke up handcuffed to a woman dressed like a showgirl with a signed marriage license in her back pocket.


End file.
